ATCs...need to work on these.

In case you're wondering, ATCs are Artist Trading Cards. If you are a stamper, you know what these are...because you try to make "oodles and oodles" to trade with other stampers.

I have not made any in YEARS and suddenly I am in the mood.

My dilemma is this, though...who can I trade with? Around here, I'm not aware of many ATC-ers...not aware of many stampers to tell the truth; but thanks to the good ol' internet, I'm sure I will have no trouble finding traders.

Here I go...to stamp!
CBB

"Hubs" Hiking

The hubs and I went one a little excursion this weekend. We decided to hit a place not far from us called The Breaks Interstate Park...or as we know it, the Breaks of the Mountain. The Breaks are about 45 minutes from our house, but seems almost like another country. I mean, a mountain is a mountain, but this place reminds us both of our childhoods...and I like to think it gives you the same feeling that you'd get standing in the Alps.

Around here, it's trek many folks take at least once a year, but some have never enjoyed it...never heard of it!?

This trip, we tried to hit most of the "overlooks". The view was breathtaking, as usual, but for some reason it all seemed new...not like the place we ventured as children, but a new place that we were seeing for the first time. It was God's beauty at it's finest. ( I can only imagine what it will look like in October when all the leaves start to change colors.)

We also, tried our luck with those little pedal-style boats. These boats were probably as old as we were, but all the new ones had been pulled because of minor problems...kind of made me chuckle, you know...like us, we are old, but still dependable...LOL.

We had a great time...Huddle House, the Breaks, cruising in the Civic...almost felt like we were on a date. Life is good.

:o) CBB

www.breakspark.com

Postcrossing

Sometimes, I truly stumble upon things that amaze me, or that I just fall in love with...this is one of those times. I wish I could tell you how I came across it, but I have no idea. The site and the concept that is Postcrossing is unbelievable. It is one of the true times where and when the internet is used for the greater good of mankind.

This little site sends you on an international adventure. You sign up to send postcards around the world...all the while postcards are coming to you from others...I love it. My first 5 postcards were assigned today...1 to someone here in the US, 1 to Germany, 1 to Hungary, and 2 to Finland.

When you register you tell a little about yourself and what types of postcards you like.(most folks want something from your area of the world, but they don't really care...they just like getting mail--like me...and roughly 1/2 of "postcrossers" are from Finland--turns out the Fins really like postcards. Who knew?)

Anyway, I'm really excited about this and I hope you take the time to check their site out. It is totally free...all you have to pay for are your postcards and stamps...and what's that when you are getting mail from all over the world--just think how cool your "mailperson" will think you are...LOL.

www.postcrossing.com

Mrs. B

Pics from Dinner

Dinner with the my pals!

Today was the day Mr. Chad was getting his new/old car (thank you, JD and Mary {smooch, smooch, smooch})...that's pretty exciting, but I was going to get to see almost all of my Win-Cit-ay friends (and one "new" addition). The friends I had made when I lived on my own for a year in Winchester, KY. The friends that really played a part in re-shaping my life without ever doing anything but listening. Plus, we were going to the Golden Corral, baby.

We left in plenty of time to meet up with the gang, but on the way got stuck in traffic due to a fatal accident. We waited, and waited, but then finally took another route and somehow made it there an hour and half later, but it was all good...minus JA and Gina not getting to join us. ( I did get to see JA though, for about 5 minutes.)

Dinner was typical. You really do get what you pay for at GC...and a trough is a trough...LOL. Anyway, we all got to play with Caden, the "new" addition, and it was nice socializing after such an absence from most of them. We will all be back together in less than a month and that left me with a big smile on my face and a happy ending is always great!

CBB :o)

Great "Google-y" Moogly

Everyone knows I am a Google fan, but heck...everyone should be! It's been making our life easier for what?...10 years now, but Google, also, makes us smarter. Yes, smarter.

Sweet, little Dennis Hwang has figured out a way to sneak in an educational lesson to us without ever typing a word. He simply creates a LOGO...the Google logo. In the beginning, the sketches were not very intricate, just the Google letters dressed up, but more and more they are becoming masterpieces. The artwork is definitely something to applaud. However, what the artwork represents and where it takes you is far more important, in my opinion...LOL. :o)

For example, certain days we expect a "dressed-up" Google, 4th of July, Christmas, Halloween, but other days we have to be stumped. Today, is one of those days for me. Why? Do you know who Hans Christian Orsted is? No, he did not write The Little Mermaid. In fact, chances are (even with the help of the Google logo artwork) you have no idea. I did not, but when I clicked on the logo, I was enlightened.

Hans Christian Orsted is credited with, according to http://www.softsailor.com/, Ørsted is a known physician and scientist who became popular for his discovery that magnetic fields can be created by electric currents in 1820. He was born on August 14 1777 in Denmark and is considered one of the founders of electromagnetism.

So, thank you Dennis and Google for making me a little bit smarter than I was yesterday!

Mrs. B

Successful at ...Nothing.

I have 2 degrees and working on 3rd, but no job. Yet, I have always considered myself a success... well, majority of the time I do or have...LOL. But am I? What measures success? I have been thinking about this all weekend and still have no answer.

Am I successful because I have 2 great kids and a some-what seemingly normal co-parenting gig? Am I successful because I have pieces of paper that say I have completed a task of X amount of hours?...because I thought that was being successful, great kids and diplomas. But is it? I, also, count my marriage as successful, but even if it's perfect...it's my second one, so that means I failed at the first one, so is the 2nd marriage a success and I'm the failure?

What do I do? What makes me successful? I mean, I blog. I can jog. I, by proxy, have a dog. I'm not a cog. Oh, If only rhyming were a measure, then YES, I am a success! Woo Hoo! ...But since it is not, maybe I should just look for a job within Dr. Seuss's company that would fit me to a tee...LOL.

Don't get me wrong, I feel like I have failed sometimes...OK, many times. We all do though, right? I don't feel like it makes me a failure. Yet, in these uncertain times, am I just pretty good at all things, but not good enough to be successful at any? No answers today, just questions.

Mrs. B

The saddest day of the year is always in August.

Every August it's the same thing. The girls go to their other home after being here for 2 to 3 months and the longest separation of the year starts. I don't see them again until October (so, it's a minimum of 7 weeks before I get another hug, kiss, or high-five.)! It is the most difficult time of the year for me...and unless you live this life of back-and-forth sharing you have no idea the pain I feel.

For days, I cry and lay in their beds smelling their sweet scent on their pillows. I sniff the shampoo bottles to remind me of them standing beside me. I hold their stuffed animals. I straighten their closets and rooms...and then I cry, again. This never changes.

I do my best not to cry when we do "the exchange", but rarely does it work and I usually cry the 7 hours home. My husband lives in a egg shell environment for days, never knowing what will set me off into a crying/screaming/cursing frenzy.

When I talk to the girls, for their first few days back, and the conversations are short and sweet, I am hurt, but then I have to realize this is just the life they live and if they were here...the conversations would be about the same...LOL.

CBB

Small Engine Repair Physics

Short, but funny story. My daughter signed up to take a small engine repair class for the upcoming school year. I had a fit. I called her father and went on and on about how a 4.0 honor student in the gifted program did not need to know how to fix a weed eater.

The hubs comes in amidst my yelling, says nothing walks back out, while I continue my tirade towards my EX. After the phone call ends, he kindly says, "It's a good thing those Apollo XIII astronauts could problem solve and know how to use duct tape, cardboard, hoses, and Moon rock bags to create a CO2 scrubber or they'd all be dead."

I call back the EX and say how wonderful a small engine repair class would be to help her understand her physics class...and how wrong I was about not seeing it's full potential. Thank you to the HUBS for always helping me see things from a scientific point of view. :o)

Mrs. B

****In case you are wondering about what the Apollo XIII astronauts had to do to survive...
http://portal.fpsct.org/fhs/courses/designed/curriculum/Readings/mech/apollo.pdf
or in simpler terms, this:
http://www.spaceacts.com/Apollo_13_CO2_filter.htm

a quite moment...or 22.

"The greatest pursuit is not good health, unsurpassed wisdom, economic surplus, political freedom, or even faith that can move mountains. It is the daily practice of the greatest of the non-negotiable laws of wellness, the Law of Unconditional Loving. Unconditional, nonjudgmental loving. This is our aim, life’s single highest and most rewarding pursuit... The highest expression of Divine Design is applied love found in loving relationships between people. Not the erotic love we see on television and in the movies but love rooted in a decision to serve. It is a dynamic state of consciousness, a giving, creative flow, and a harmony. It’s an acceptance of the human condition as perfectly imperfect. And it is a choice to love without regard to any conditions; no “ifs” are allowed in this, the greatest of laws."

-- Greg Anderson via the Internet

The 22 {Non-Negotiable} Laws of Wellness

A visit from Mary and Joseph...I promise!

Mary and Joseph (JD) are 2 of my best friends in the world. They are the perfect couple and I love being around them. We all met when we worked for the same company that none of us now work for...and that's a good thing! Anyway, this past weekend they visited with us and explored our mountainous region. It was a great time, just sitting around doing nothin' but chit chattin'...until we took Mary on a tour...LOL. She tends to get car sick.

At the end of the day Mary said to me, "Well, next time we'll go somewhere that's not an hour away and on such curvy roads." I grinned and thought to myself, "Sister, let me know where that is?"

Mrs. B :o)